John Schneider watched his team blow out the Tampa Bay Rays on Opening Day with an 8-2 win. Subsequently, he watched his team lose to the exact same team by the exact same score, just one day later.
During Friday's game, starting pitcher Chris Bassitt gave up five runs, four of which came in the third inning. Of course, this came off of a Grand Slam home run by Brandon Lowe. However, the bases were loaded in the first place thanks to an error from Bo Bichette. In fact, Bo Bichette made a couple of errors behind Bassitt throughout the game, and it put the pitcher in an incredibly tough spot. Although George Springer got a home run for the Jays, it simply wasn't enough.
After the game, Schneider spoke to the media about the match and what went wrong for his guys. Schneider acknowledged that the errors made by Bichette were a huge factor. Although, the Manager did make it a point to praise Bassitt for the way he fought throughout the game. He also noted that the team is ready to get back into the swing of things and that they will just brush this one off as a learning experience.
"Any team in this league, you have to catch the ball. These guys do damage and right after that (error), grand slam. Errors are part of it, so you just flush it and get back after it tomorrow. Defence, as we all know, is very important, but Chris battled."
Today, the Blue Jays will have a chance to get revenge on the Tampa Bay Rays. Game three of the four-match series will begin at 4:10 PM Eastern Standard Time. Fans in Canada will be able to catch the game on Sportsnet. Additionally, you can continue to follow Blue Jays Insider for all of the latest news and updates from around the baseball world.